Treaty of
Saint-Germain-en-
Laye
of
Section V, Part III
Protection of Minorities
Art. 62.
contained in this Section shall be recognised
as fundamental laws, and that no law,
regulation or official action shall conflict or
interfere with these stipulations, nor shall any
law, regulation or official action prevail
over
them.
Art. 63. All inhabitants of
entitled to the free exercise, whether public or
private, of any creed, religion or belief, whose
practices are not inconsistent with public order
or public morals.
protection of life and liberty to all inhabitants
of
nationality, language, race or religion.
Art. 64.
Austrian nationals ipso facto and without
the
requirement of any formality all persons
possessing at the date of the coming into
force of the present Treaty rights of
citizenship
(pertinenza)
within Austrian territory who are
not nationals of any other State.
Art. 65. All persons born in Austrian territory
who are not born nationals of another State
shall ipso facto become Austrian nationals.
Article 66. All Austrian nationals shall be equal
before the law and shall enjoy the same civil
and political rights without distinction as
to
race, language or religion.
Differences of religion, creed or
confession
shall not prejudice any Austrian national in
matters relating to the enjoyment of civil or
political rights, as for instance admission to
public employments, functions and honours, or
the exercise of professions and industries.
No restriction shall be imposed on the
free use
by any Austrian national of any language in
private intercourse, in commerce, in religion, in
the press or in publications of any kind, or
at
public meetings.
Notwithstanding any establishment by the
Austrian Government of an official
language,
adequate facilities shall be given to Austrian
nationals of non-German speech for the use of
their language, either orally or in writing,
before the courts.
Art. 67. Austrian nationals who belong to
racial, religious or linguistic minorities shall
enjoy the same treatment and security in law
and in fact as the other Austrian nationals.
In
particular they shall have an equal right to
establish, manage and control at their own
expense charitable, religious and social
institutions, schools and other educational
establishments, with the right to use their own
language and to exercise their religion freely
therein.
Art. 68.
educational system in towns and districts in
which a considerable proportion of Austrian
nationals of other than German speech are
resident adequate facilities for ensuring that in
the primary schools the instruction shall be
given to the children of such Austrian
nationals
through the medium of their own language.
This provision shall not prevent the
Austrian
Government from making the teaching of the
German language obligatory in the said
schools.
In towns and districts where there is a
considerable proportion of Austrian nationals
belonging to racial, religious or linguistic
minorities, these minorities shall be assured an
equitable share in the enjoyment and
application of the sums which may be provided
out of public funds under the State,
municipal
or other budgets for educational, religious
or
charitable purposes.
Article 69.*)
in the foregoing Articles of this Section,
so far
as they affect persons belonging to racial,
religious or linguistic minorities, constitute
obligations of international concern and shall
be placed under the guarantee of the League
of Nations. They shall not be modified
without
the assent of a majority of the Council of
the
Powers represented on the Council
severally
agree not to withhold their assent from any
modification in these Articles which is in due
form assented to by a majority of the Council
of the
of the
to bring to the attention of the Council any
infraction, or any danger of infraction, of any
of these obligations, and that the Council
may
thereupon take such action and give such
direction as it may deem proper and effective
in the circumstances.
opinion as to questions of law or fact arising
out of these Articles between the Austrian
Government and any one of the Principal
Allied
and Associated Powers or any other Power, a
Member of the Council of the League of
Nations, shall be held to be a dispute of
an
international character under Article 14 of the
Covenant of the
Austrian Government hereby consents that
any
such dispute shall, if the other party thereto
demands, be referred to the
of International Justice. The decision of
the
Permanent Court shall be final and shall
have
the same force and effect as an award under
Article 13 of the Covenant.
*) As a consequence of the dissolution of
the League
of Nations, Art. 69 is
not applicable.